The present invention relates generally to telecommunication techniques. More particularly, the present invention provides a novel technique, including computer codes, to remove unwanted e-mail messages from a personal computer, workstation, or the like. These unwanted e-mail messages that were unsolicited are commonly referred to as "SPAM." SPAM includes junk mail or junk e-mail messages, advertisements, adult web site information, and the like.
A variety of techniques have been used to transmit written messages from one geographic location to another. In the early days, people or messengers were the sole means used to carry written information from one person to another person. Although effective and still used today, messengers were limited by their physical abilities. That is, some messengers could not travel over rough terrain such as rocks, jungles, and other landscapes. Large bodies of water were also difficult to cross. Additionally, messengers generally could not travel over long distances in a short period of time. A human messenger could only travel a few miles or tens of miles during a typical day.
Accordingly, messengers were replaced, at least in part, by carrier pigeons. More particularly, carrier pigeons were used to move small pieces of papers having written information thereon from one geographic location to another. Carrier pigeons were quite efficient in some applications but could not generally travel over substantial distances. Accordingly, a relay of ponies and human riders was used for long distance travel across the North American continent. This relay of ponies was called the "Pony Express." The Pony Express carried written communication in the form of mail on leather pouches carried on the relay of ponies across the United States. Although all of these techniques were somewhat effective, they were often costly, unreliable, and difficult to achieve.
In the modern day world, a combination of transportation techniques are used in the postal system. These techniques include, among others, human carriers (e.g., mailmen), motorized vehicles such as cars or trucks, and airplanes, jets, and the like to physically transport mail throughout the United States. Conventional postal systems are often reliable and cost efficient. They are so efficient that they are often subject to many undesirable influences. One of these influences is the routine transmission of unsolicited advertisements, information, and the like to many households across the United States. On any typical day, an average household receives at least one, if not more than one, unsolicited advertisement. As merely an example, the advertisement can be for carpet cleaning, credit cards, and other goods or services that are routinely sent by companies in an attempt to secure a purchase from the household. In many cases, these unsolicited advertisements often burden the postal system. Additionally, households are burdened by the advertisements, which are throw away. These unsolicited advertisements are also termed as "Junk Mail."
Unfortunately, junk mail is not limited to use in only the conventional postal systems. In many wide area computer networking applications, junk mail is commonly sent to users in large groups, often thousands or perhaps millions of users. For instance, a user of a well known wide area network of computers, which is known as the "Internet," often receives numerous lines of junk mail, which has been coined as unsolicited commercial e-mail (UCE) or SPAM! In fact, SPAM refers to such unsolicited advertisements that come to the user by way of electronic mail, also known as "e-mail."
SPAM has become a significant problem degrading Internet performance due to the large number of junk e-mails sent every day, increases the cost to Internet Service Providers and corporations due to the increased need for storage space, decreases the productivity of recipients of e-mails, and the like. Furthermore, the junk e-mail sender pays very little for the ability to clog up the Internet, businesses, and individuals with junk e-mail.
Many distributors of SPAM actually send the SPAM with instructions on how to be removed from the SPAM distribution list. In most cases, however, e-mail messages often do not include such instructions on how to remove a recipient from a junk e-mail distribution list. In the cases where instructions are provided, many drawbacks exist. As merely an example, some of the ways to be removed from the mailing lists is time consuming to the recipient. Additionally, there are simply no standards in being removed from such mailing lists. Furthermore, the techniques that are available to be removed from the junk e-mail distribution list often require the recipient to perform time consuming tasks, such as sending a reply e-mail to the junk e-mail message and specifically typing a request to be removed from the mailing list, forwarding the e-mail message to another e-mail address and typing a request with specified text requesting removal, connecting to a particular web site and following instructions for removal (benefiting the web site provider by providing an advertising "hit"), and the like.
Filters have also been used or proposed to remove junk e-mail messages from a recipients e-mail. In fact, various programs have been developed in an attempt to filter-out junk e-mail messages from in boxes. Such programs appear to focus upon the e-mail address, host source, the format of the message, the content, and the like. When such programs detect junk e-mail, they automatically delete them so the user is not bothered by them. A drawback to such programs is that they may filter-out legitimate bulk e-mail messages that are of interest to the user, for example, e-mail messages from special interest groups, product recall and product warning notices, valuable product promotions from legitimate businesses, upgrade notices and bug patches for software programs, and the like.
From the above, it is seen that an improved technique for permanently removing junk e-mail messages is highly desired.